A Story of Loving and Betraying
by sevenofmine
Summary: All of sudden, Ziva is killed. First Kate, then her. When will Tony not be able to endure replacements anymore? And when will he stop falling in love with his female colleagues?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"It was a routine case. Nothing very special. It took us three days to find out who the killer was."

"Start at the beginning, please."

"It was a Monday morning and we were called to the Baltimore woods. A Naval officer was found by two joggers. He was stabbed, it seemed like a very personal matter. She was called Paloma Jenkins. But I assume you know that part already."

"Continue."

"Doesn't that affect you a little bit…at least?"

"Please, Tony. Don't make it any harder than it already is."

"Any harder? What can be made harder? Have you any idea how it is to-"

"Please focus on the report."

"Okay…It was a personal issue. So we searched her environment. Her parents lived in New York, so McGee and Ziva visited them there. She had worked on the Naval Base in Norfolk. Had many friends, some very close. The research brought us to her boyfriend."

"Coincidentally?"

"Yes…how else? You know how this works."

"I have a note pad with questions here, Tony. I didn't make them."

"Why not?"

"This is complicated."

"Explain."

"Tony…everything in this case is complicated. I have to interrogate each of you, ask the same questions."

"Who wrote them down?"

"CIA."

Tony looked up. He sighed. "So now it's a matter of CIA. Why?"

"You know why."

"No. CIA deals with foreign policy. This is not."

"It is – Tony, I'm not here to argue with you. I'm here to interrogate you."

"Why? Everything is clear already. You only need to lay the blame on someone, don't you?"

"We don't blame anybody. It wasn't predictable. It was bad luck…Before you say anything, Tony, just go on with the story."

Tony sighed again. He was sweating in the warm and small NCIS interrogation room. "We found out about this ex-boyfriend. It seemed so obvious and typical. They split up, they quarreled, he stabbed her. He drove her to the forest and dumped her there. He had a criminal record including disposition to violence, several complaints of women concerning abusive stuff…but why the hell am I telling you? Shouldn't I get to the point?"

Agent Fornell remained calm and starred at the Very Special Agent. It was obvious that the FBI-agent had had a long night, too and that he dealt with emotions as well. Tony's dried tears shimmered in the pale light of the ceiling lamp.

Tony continued: "Gibbs told us to drive to John's house, the boyfriend and bring him in for interrogation."

"Why didn't he accompany you?"

"I assume you asked him that, too but he was summoned by director Vance to assist him on a video conference. Some kind of…top secret stuff or whatever."

"Okay, then you and agent David drove to the boyfriend's house, right?"

"Yes…he lived in Norfolk, so it was half an hour drive…"

It was dark night already when Tony and Ziva stepped into the black car and started their drive to the address McGee had sent him to his cell phone. Ziva was driving and Tony tried to get some sleep which he hadn't had enough of for the last two days.

"Tony, wake up," Ziva then said. "We'll soon be there."

All of sudden, he was completely awake again and checked his gun and badge. They drove around in the small suburb. It was five pm and finally they stopped in front of the house.

"Okay, let's go," Tony decided and the two agents stepped out of the car. Slowly, they walked over to the cheap house. There was a light lit in the living room and Tony rang the bell. It took a few seconds before it was opened. John Liam, a twenty-six years old man with a part-time job at the local gas station stood in front of them. He was unshaven, had a beard, wore a t-shirt and jeans although outside there were about eight degrees centigrade.

"NCIS. Special Agents David and DiNozzo," Ziva said and showed her identity card and badge. Seconds passed, then, suddenly, John decided to run for it. He turned around, while his face has already gone pale. Tony and Ziva hesitated for about a second before they came after him. John has turned into his living room, opened the draw of the desk and pulled out a gun. He turned around and pointed his weapon at the special agents who, in turn, pointed their revolvers at him as well.

"Okay, stay calm, okay? Nobody's gonna do anything," Tony said.

"Put down your gun!" Ziva ordered.

"And what? You gonna arrest me?" he screamed. His hand trembled and he helped out with his left hand.

"We just want to bring you in for interrogation," Tony answered. But it was already clear that they found their murderer.

"Ha! You want to arrest me, put me into jail forever."

"You kill Lieutenant Jenkins," Ziva stated out the obvious.

"Yes!" John hissed. "Yes, I did! This filthy bitch! She betrayed me! And then I asked her and she played her game with me!"

"Please explain this at NCIS headquarters," Tony said. "I'm sure we can find a solution. But first please put down the gun."

The man shook his head. "No…I'm not crazy. I saw how she met this guy."

"What guy?"

"What do I know? I surprised them together."

Ziva and Tony exchanged glances. A typical drama. At least it was what they thought…

"Continue," Ziva demanded. They still needed to figure out how to solve this situation.

"Well, I came in and saw this other guy. He was tall, skinny. I shouted that this son of a bitch should get out of my house. She answered I understood this all wrong. He tried to calm me down that he was just a working partner. I didn't believe him. I shooed him out of my house and Paloma said she'd call him later. That was the last straw. While I heard the guy driving away I walked over to the kitchen. I asked her and she still denied any affaire."

"Did it ever come to your mind that they were really working colleagues?" Tony asked.

The man didn't know an answer, but Ziva did. "Tony, when he was, we would have met him at Naval Base. Then he would have told us about this incident."

"That's true," the Special Agent considered. "This doesn't make any sense." Not yet for them. He turned back to the man with the gun in his hand. He was very stirred up and sweat pearls ran down his front head.

"Hey, you don't accuse me of lying?" he asked nervously.

"We only accuse you of murder…" Ziva said.

"I did not lie!", the man shouted. He repeated this and then pointed his gun against his head.

"No!" Ziva shouted and wanted to run toward him. She lunged out at him and they fell down to the floor. Tony put back his gun and also ran to the struggling agent and the suspect with the gun in the hand. But before he could reach the two persons, a gun shot was fired. For about a moment, everything was in slow motion. Tony stared at Ziva, who had sit on the suspect before, now she seemed to fall backwards, her mouth was opened and her eyes so widely. The man let his gun fall next to his head and pulled the trigger once more. Tony was close enough and felt the hot blood sprinkled his face. He let himself fall down next to the two persons lying on the floor.

"Ziva!" he screamed and threw himself on her body. Her eyes looked at him. "Tony…" she muttered with her last strength and before Tony could whisper something like 'I'll get help' or 'Hang in there!', she closed her eyes and her head fell down on the carpet.

"NO!" Tony screamed in pain and disbelief. He cowered over the body, twenty minutes later he was found like that by police that stormed in, having been alarmed by a concerned neighbor who had heard two gun shots.

"This is how it happened?" Agent Fornell asked.

"Well, you don't have any other witnesses, do you?" Tony answered and continued starring on the ground.

It was the following day, again late in the evening and he had spent the last hours waiting in an isolated room for his interrogation and giving an official report.

Fornell leaned forward. "I'm sorry, Tony…first Kate, then Ziva…"

"You don't understand…" Tony said with an angry voice.

"No, I don't…but life's going on. I hope you don't forget this…We're done here. Go home, DiNozzo. Tomorrow you don't need to come. Sleep over it and if you can't, here…" he gave him a call card.

"A therapist?" Tony laughed.

"Would be the best for you…"

"I don't need a shrink," Tony said and stood up. He put the card on the table and left the room. Fornell sighed and looked at the mirror of the interrogation room. Vance and Gibbs standing there, both starred back.

"Something tells me this is not over yet," Gibbs mentioned.

"Why?" the director asked.

"We haven't found out anything about that guy the suspect had talked about…"

"Forget this. He had been labile, mentally crazy. You shouldn't believe a word of that…"

"You maybe not. But I do…" And Gibbs was right. This was not over yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'd be pleased if you left any reviews on this.**

Chapter 2

"Hey, you shouldn't come to work today!" McGee said surprised when he spotted Tony walking out of the elevator.

"Sorry, but I couldn't bear it at home. I need work," the stubborn agent responded and threw his rucksack on the floor, sat down and started his computer. "So, what's up? Have we yet a substitute?"

"Gibbs said we are supposed to find one," McGee informed.

"And?"

"Well, there's a new position here free and we could invite some job candidates for an interview…"

"Great, when do we do this?"

"Well…as soon as we got some applicants."

"Great. I should…move this stuff to the evidence room," Tony decided and walked over to Ziva's desk. "What about the stuff at her home? She didn't have any relatives here."

"I think, I overheard Gibbs and Vance talking about it. Her father had sent someone to take this stuff."

"Her father?"

"Well, he has lost all three children now. Tony, let me do this!" McGee said and came over to assist his friend.

It was two days later and Tony and McGee were all occupied with job interviews. It reminded them on having done the same when Ziva had been away in Asia, kidnapped. But this time, she couldn't be rescued. This time, they really needed to find someone else to fill her place. But this was nearly possible. Both agents haven't yet even got over Caitlin's abrupt death. And now it was Ziva. Life was never easy but risky.

"And…what's your name?" Tony asked and looked up from his notes of the last applicant. Now he saw a young woman sitting in front of him. She was tall, very slender, pale skin and long, black hair which she wore in a braid.

"I'm Valentina Riddle," she answered and handed over her file.

"Ah," Tony said and skimmed the pages. "So, tell me something about you. Why did you apply for this job?"

"I've finished my police training two years ago and served the last one and a half years for the Navy."

"Ah, I see. You're reached rank of Lieutenant already…you have a light accent, where are you from?"

"I grew up in Great Britain and graduated from High School over there. But I'm American and therefore I moved here for police training."

"What made you decide to join the Navy?"

"Well, after my education one of my professors, a former US marine, introduced me to that job."

"What made you decide to quit?" Tony asked nicely. Somehow, he liked that woman.

"My last assignment was on the USS Defiant. One month ago, we had been attacked during our mission in Caribbean seas."

"I've heard about this…" Tony said. The ship had nearly been destroyed after an attack of Columbian drug dealers. It had been in the news for a whole week.

"Well, I…had some experiences there which wanted me to take a little distance with ships and marine life…But I didn't want to start something whole new and with my actual police education, I had found out about Naval Investigative Service," she answered and smiled at him.

"Okay…how old are you? You seem pretty young for that all…"

"I'm twenty-two. I graduated from high school with seventeen."

"Well…thanks. I'll let you know what turned out," he said and she stood up.

They said good-bye and she left the office. Tony turned around and noticed McGee smile. The first time in ages.

"What?" Tony asked.

"You have a crush on her," he answered with that boyish grin.

"I don't."

"Oh…you have. I think we should take her."

"Because I have a crush on her?"

"You had a crush on everyone else before."

"That's not…" But pictures of Kate and Ziva turned up in front of Tony's eyes. "That…may be true…" he admitted.

A second passed, before he added: "Does Gibbs stand behind me?"

McGee nodded slowly and Tony expected a slap, but Gibbs only rushed by to his chair. "Any luck?"

"Well, we might have someone…" McGee answered and Tony handed him over a file.

"Really your type, DiNozzo?"

"A bit young," he tried to defend himself.

"We take her," the boss decided and another paper cup landed in the bin.

Three days later, they finally had a new case and Gibbs, Tony, McGee and Valentina arrived at crime scene. Admiral Johnson, age fifty-two, had been found at home, his throat sliced open.

"So, what do you think?" the boss asked to their newest recruit.

"No sign for use of force entering the house, so either the perpetrator must have had a key or was let in by the Admiral. The throat was sliced open in a very efficient way, so it must have been a professional. Therefore no personal relationship, perhaps a hit man?" she answered.

"Found something!", McGee mentioned and held up a little coin he found beneath the body.

"Oh," Ducky said.

"You wanna say something, Duck?" the Boss asked.

"Er…yes. This coin is used by Neck Joe…a professional contract killer who leaves coins as his trade mark. He is known for several cases. He's cheap and easy to get and does everything with style and very clean."

Gibbs started to smile and walked to McGee to bag and tag the evidence.

"Good start," Tony whispered into Valentina's ear, who started to shoot crime scene photos.

"What have you got?" Gibbs asked when he entered the office with a cup of coffee in his hand.

The three agents stood up and gathered in front of the screen. "Neck Joe, actually Joe Pals – he's a contract killer, fifty-two and well-known for the coins that are found at crime scene," Tony started.

"Unfortunately he's in prison since September," Valentina added and showed the files for the arrest.

"Therefore we searched for a potential copycat," McGee added. "Our suspect is Casey Lee who shared cells with Neck Joe this October for three weeks. He escaped from New York prison about three days ago and there's still a search going on."

"And now he's here…Who could have hired him?" the boss wanted to know.

"Admiral Johnson wasn't very liked on his last duty – the ship arrived at harbor two days ago and he was transferred to Naval Base in Norfolk. After testimonies of some of his comrades on the ship, the Rio Grande, he was insufferable and as a man in command, demanded various tests and competitions throughout the mission which brought his crew more than once into danger," Valentina added.

"We gathered information about who gave those testimonies and have names…" Tony said.

"Then you and Valentina drive to the Naval Base and interrogate everyone there, okay?"

"Understood, boss," he answered and the two special agents gathered their stuff and left the office.

"Wow, she's good…" McGee muttered and directly got a tap on his back head by Gibbs.

"Wasn't it a bit early to search a substitute for Agent David?" Valentina broke the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"She died five days ago…"

"We can't afford an empty chair."

"You loved her."

"What?" Tony asked surprised and looked at the woman on the co-driver's chair.

"Oh…really? I'm sorry for your loss."

"How did you know?" he asked concerned that everybody could see that.

"It was obvious…"

"You seem to combine one and one very well…"

"I just watch everything thoroughly…"

Tony had to smile. This girl was really good, but she also was a lot younger than both Kate and Ziva were.

"How was she? … I mean agent David…"

"She was born Israeli and…we met her when her half-brother had killed one of our agents…"

"Oh…"

"Nah, it's long time ago…"

They arrived at the Naval Base and entered the building where they met Commander in charge Lewis.

"Special Agent DiNozzo and Probie Riddle. We want to talk to some of your officers," Tony introduced and they were let to a room for interrogation and the named officers were gathered. "Then let's start," he muttered when they began to interrogate every member of the crew who hated the deceased Admiral: it were thirty-one out of thirty-six who had had motive and opportunity.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"She was a good agent. True loyal, she had decided against her own origin and taken along our citizenship. But over all, she was a good friend. For all of us…"

Tony hardly listened to what director Vance said. His thoughts were gone, back to the evening when his closest friend had died. He was back in that living room, couldn't he have decided otherwise? So that Ziva would still live? Couldn't have he died instead?

He felt how Valentina was touching his arm. "Don't blame yourself", she whispered.

"What makes you think I do?"

"I'd do."

He nodded. "You're right. I…I loved her, really…" she muttered. Her hand on his arm felt so good. They were all clothed in black, standing in the stormy morning nature, staring down at the earth where Ziva David would soon vanish to. He still couldn't believe that they have lost her. He had to go in front of them, talked to them, his mouth formed the words automatically, but his throat was dry and his head was empty. As if anybody had pulled everything out of it and replaced it with fog. Tony sighed again and then stepped down again. He walked back to McGee and Valentina.

"I think I'd lie if I say you came over it one day", she whispered.

"You seem to know a lot for a young girl", he murmured back.

"Oh, I've experienced enough…on the Defiant…" she said and remained silent for the rest of the funeral.

"I don't want to walk this way again", Abby complained when they left. She still fought with tears but finally gave it up. "First Kate, then Ziva…your position is cursed", she said to Valentina.

She only smiled in response: "I'll be careful."

"I have bad news", director Vance announced the next day when they were all working at their desks. They looked up in surprise and awaited an explanation. "Lieutenant Paloma Jenkins had participated in a very secret project of the Navy. This is the reason why CIA intervened the investigation. She developed a new instrument for spotting foreign submarines. The gathered data including test results were saved on a little microchip."

"Like the one we found in her bag at the crime scene?" McGee asked.

"Exactly."

"Then, where's the problem?" the boss asked.

"The bag was stored in the evidence room. At least this is what was reported. When FBI visited this morning to get it, it was gone", Vance said with an alarming look at the agents.

"What about the surveillance cameras?" McGee asked and already searched the tape data. A moment later he already stammered: "This can't be possible. They went offline the day before yesterday at seven pm. And online…this morning at nine."

"Yes. Yesterday, nobody had been in office. But on Tuesday, about fifteen persons have left work after seven o'clock", the director answered.

"And Tony and I came back at about nine in the evening after interrogation", Valentina mentioned and Tony nodded.

"That makes you suspects as well", he answered and sighed. "We think that either that night or yesterday the microchip must have been stolen. But yesterday this person must have also hacked the alarm system to even get in here. Ms. Riddle, DiNozzo, I must ask you to join the other suspects waiting for interrogation in the cellar."

"Not again an interrogation", Tony sighed when they both stood up.

"One more question: Have you entered and left the building together?" Vance asked.

"Yes, but in the meanwhile, I had been on toilet once and Valentina had brought down some evidences to Abby's lab."

"Thank you. Now, wait downstairs."

"Agent DiNozzo, do you think that for putting the surveillance cameras offline, you have to sit right in front of a computer?"

Tony just stared at FBI agent Sacks in front of him. Did he really believe he'd first at all, do this, and second, have enough computer skills.

"I don't know, yes, why else would McGeek spent all the night in front of a plasma screen."

"No, wrong answer. You can trigger that access. This is what have been done."

"How do you know?"

"The computer department found a worm inside our computer system…sorry, your computer system. At exactly seven pm it activated itself and hacked the securities. Someone must have smuggled it inside from one of the NCIS computers."

"Not via Internet?"

"Also possible, but unlikely. Too dangerous to trace it back and too difficult."

"But possible", Tony sighed. "So, you telling me that someone put a virus into our system which activated itself and turn off our cameras?"

Sacks made a grimace being forced to listen to Tony's bad computer language. "Yes…you may go, Agent DiNozzo. But don't be in our way of investigation."

"Yeah, you, too…son of a bitch", Tony muttered when he shut the door behind him. He met Valentina on the way to the interrogation room. "Everything okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "What did he ask you?"

"Just if I smuggled a self-activating trigger-worm into NCIS computer system."

"What?" she asked as she passed. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, seems possible."

"You know that much about computers?"

"I had had a boyfriend on the Defiant who taught me some stuff… But not something that specific…"

"Good luck" he added when she opened the door and disappeared into the dark room. Tony regarded her ass and thought about what luck this boyfriend must have had, before he turned back and walked down to the office.

**Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It took them exactly five hours until McGee had found something that could help with their case. They tracked back a part of the virus which was linked and started from several computers. One of them was located at Hansberry Avenue in Norfolk. They decided to watch the apartment closely, as they had to be very discrete in this case. The stolen information seemed, according to the toil of FBI and CIA, very classified and dangerous to the nation's security. Therefore they searched an empty flat with sight on the suspected one. McGee and Gibbs were the first ones to have the honor to watch if someone entered or left the building of Hansberry Avenue 606. It has been far after midnight before someone turned up.

"Shall we intervene?" McGee asked his boss.

"No," he answered. "I wanna see how often he comes in and out, if he really lives there and how many people. When we're sure, we may take a look around there."

"Uh, so very careful today, Boss?"

"We're always careful, McGee, aren't we?"

"Yeah," he agreed and stepped back from the window. "Tony and Valentina should arrive here any moment," he mentioned.

About a second later, they heard a knock at the door. "I'll go," McGeek answered and reappeared twenty seconds later on the doorstep.

"Hey, sorry. The drive-in took longer than expected," Tony explained and gave each Tim and Gibbs a package from BK.

"Thanks, man" Gibbs answered when they packed their things.

"Er, it was actually Valentina's idea…I just agreed," Tony said and threw his jacket where McGee had just taken it away.

"Good thinking," the boss said and he and McGee left the room.

"And now we're here on our own," Tony commented and sat down on the sofa.

Valentina walked over to the window and looked through the binoculars. "There's light on," she commented.

"Someone in there?"

"Can't see from this angle."

He stood up and walked over to take a look as well. "Yeah, you're right. Well, as soon as he or whoever is in there, leaves, we'll take a closer look. But first, we haven't had midnight dinner yet."

He walked back to the couch and opened the two BK bags and put the fries and burgers on the table.

"Midnight? It's two in the morning," she mentioned but sat down next to him.

They ate together and he thought about the main differences between her and Ziva. They were both strong women, like Kate had been, too, but all they were in different ways. Kate had been the more accessible kind, Ziva the Mossad agent, daughter of the cruel director, having grown up with two siblings who died. But what made him feel so attracted to Valentina? That was a question he had asked himself too often and for too many different women.

"Hey, Tony. Still here?"

"Huh?" He looked up, obviously having been lost in thoughts.

She laughed and her smile reminded him so much on Caitlin. He shook his head. "Sorry, I was lost in thoughts. What did you say?"

"Never mind…"

There was a moment of silence. "Tell me something about you, Valentina" he finally started.

"First you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Hm…where're you from?"

"New York."

"Come on, Tony…what about your parents…"

"What has McGee already told you?"

She shrugged her shoulders and made herself sit more comfortable. She pulled up her legs to the couch and stared at him.

"My mum died when I was eight."

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

"I visited a lot of boarding schools. Don't have a splendid relationship with my daddy…what about your parents? You were born in London, weren't you?"

She nodded. "Ya. My parents sent me to a boarding school as well. They wanted me to either become a musician or a scientist. I was kicked out the school with thirteen."

"What have you done?" he laughed.

"Oh, my friend and I we were caught smoking on the toilets and flooding the basement during a heavy rain storm with opening all doors."

"What the…" he laughed and she joined.

"Well, my parents weren't that pleased…they sent me back on a normal school."

"You must have done well there. I've seen all your marks."

"Yeah, I never had problems with learning and not having the pressure to be their good child, I could be more ambitious."

"Do you still have contact with your parents?"

"No. I left home after an argument with them and I had American citizenship because my mother is from Sacramento, so I came over here. I started Police Academy actually because it was the thing they wanted me to do less. But I liked it. My mum died about a year ago and my father still works as conductor in London ."

"I'm sorry because of your mum…"

She shrugged. "I spoke to her when she was ill and the only thing she told me was how disappointed she was with me. So I'm not really sorry for her or my dad…"

"So, why did you decide to become an NCIS agent?" she changed the topic.

"There were many reasons…"

"We have the whole night."

It was about four a clock when they noticed the light of the suspect's house switching off.

"Not the usual time for a walk," Tony commented when an elderly man left the house. He looked around and then stepped into the silver car to drive away.

"Shall we risk to take a look?" she asked with her cute British accent that made Tony melt away.

He nodded and they put on their jackets for the cold November night. They walked out of the flat and down the stairs. Arriving at the street they looked around but saw nobody. They hurried over and she fumbled the door open with a piece of fence.

"You're fast," he said surprised when they entered the house in record-time. She smiled and closed the door behind them.

It was the same small flat in which they had observed this building. They walked along the small corridor and to the room where they had seen the light switched on. There was no decoration.

"Seems this flat is only functional. No personal stuff," Tony said and she nodded.

There was only one computer on the desk which showed a black screen. "It's on stand-by," Valentina whispered and sat down in front of it. She pressed a key and the computer made the noise of starting again.

Tony came over to see what it'd show. But instead of the usual desktop, silent numbers appeared. It was a countdown, the six already turning into a five.

"Out of here!" they both said together and stumbled out of the room as fast as they could. They just reached the entrance hall when everything went noisy and different-colored in front of Tony's eyes. He jumped down with Valentina and onto her to protect her from the explosion. It was loud but not that heavy.

For a few seconds they remained silent. He heard her coughing. "Valentina? Valentina, everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she nodded with a rough voice and he crawled down from her.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" she joked and he lay down and laughed. Then he looked around. The house was on fire but not yet worse and he was sure that due to the explosion, somebody must have already called police.

"Let's get out of here," she suggested and helped him up.

"Good idea," he answered and they ran down the staircase and out of the building.

Outside, already a crowd has gathered and they heard the sound of the coming fire brigade.

"Well, I don't know yet how exactly the bomb worked, but you must have been very lucky," Abby greeted Tony, Valentina and Gibbs arriving in her lab. It was early morning and she had slept over with on the floor with her sleeping bag and hippo.

"Then tell us what you know, Abs" Gibbs ordered and gave her a big Caf-Pow. She smiled and sipped it first. Then she started showing a 3D-animation of the room and the explosion on her computer.

"The bomb was activated with pressing any key on the board," she started and a 3D-animated figure pressed any key. "Then the countdown from six downward started and it blew of. I looked inside and it was a normal bomb with activate-and-time trigger. But you were lucky to get out in time."

"Keep going, Abs" Gibbs said and left the room, leaving Tony and the two girls alone there.

"This was a damned trap," Tony finally said.

"Uh…it's so dangerous out there," Abby mentioned and looked at them with pity. Suddenly there was a beep-tone and she turned back to her little computer-baby.

"Oh" she made happily.

"What is it?" Valentina asked and tried to have a look on the screen.

"A match with DNA. Well, seems someone has been careless," she explained and opened the file.

"John Smith," she read out. "Well, that's not going to be a great help. I'll try with facial recognition, perhaps we have more luck with that."

The agents nodded and left the lab again. In the elevator, Tony turned off the power. Valentina looked over to him and he sighed under the pressure of expectation.

"What?" she asked.

"Listen, I need to talk to you. I haven't done this with both Kate and Ziva and I want to be honest this time. I can't afford to lose this time." He didn't know how to say it.

"We know each other for a very short time, I know it…but I developed feelings for you which I can't deny…" He tried to be tactful and hoped that it worked. Her face didn't show any reactions or thoughts.

"You mean, like with all female colleagues you have had yet?"

"No…it's not like that," he said and was surprised over her answer. "What did McGee tell you? Whatever he told you, it's not like he said…it's different…you're different…than all the other agents…"

He waited a second, but she didn't respond. Then, suddenly, she stepped forward and gave him a long kiss on his mouth. First, he was overwhelmed but then found himself again and embraced her and responded that kiss.

"Why did it take so long?" she whispered and he pushed her on the wall of the elevator.

After a while, they stared at each other and Tony switched on electricity again. He hesitated but then said: "Dinner at my house right after work?"

"Yes," she answered neutrally sounding when the doors opened.

"What took it so long? You turned off power or what, Tony?" they encountered an angry McGee.

Without a word, the two were passing by, exchanging looks and then going back to work at the office.

It didn't take ten minutes until Tony got a phone call of Abby. "She got a match, his name is Lee Carter but there isn't more information about him. His file is classified by FBI."

"I…I don't think they'll provide us access to their information," Valentina stammered but then caught herself: "And is it worth trying with our current status at FBI?"

"I'll have a try," Tony decided and already dialed the number. So he didn't catch the worried look of Valentina who was staring at his desk.

"They gave us all information. I just received the email with his current address," Tony informed Valentina when she came back from toilet. She put her cell phone unobtrusively back into her pocket.

"Then let's go," said Gibbs who arrived at the office right now.

They all grabbed their gear and left the NCIS building, with, of course, FBI backup.

They drove to North-West of the town where Lee Carter's residence was. It was a small house near a forest and it seemed as if he didn't want any visitors. They all hushed forward, trying not to make any sound.

"Clear!" "Clear!" You heard the agents shout.

"Damn it!" Gibbs finally cursed when they gathered in the living room. Everything was empty already except for the furniture. "He must have been warned." He looked around and then addressed the FBI agent in charge: "Will you now bother to explain who this Lee Carter was?"

"I'm sorry but not even I know. I got my orders from Fornell and he told me that we've been searching this man for nearly a decade now."

"And how do you explain that he's gone so fast?" Gibbs hissed.

"He isn't gone for long," Tony said when he entered the living room. "There's dinner in the microwave and it's still warm. He must have known we were coming so that he had had time to pack his things."

"But we still find any traces of his DNA or perhaps other DNA here," McGee answered.

"Just one question," Valentina suddenly asked. "If you had to flee and hadn't time to cover up all traces, would you be so sloppy to run away without erasing all DNA tracks?"

"What do you mean?" McGee asked surprised.

"She means, that somewhere here a bomb is hidden," Gibbs answered and started looking around. The other agents did the same until the FBI man suddenly screamed out loudly. "Fuck!"

"What?"

Gibbs was already looking under that kitchen table. "Out of here, fast!"

They all ran out of the doors and windows and if someone watched from outside, it must have been really funny, over a dozen agents of both NCIS and FBI jumping out of windows.

The team was just out for a few milliseconds when something like a loud thunder sounded all around them. Another nanosecond later Tony found himself flying through the air and hard landing on the NCIS car. He fell on the ground and looked around.

The house was standing in flames, burning brightly. Next to him, McGee was lying. His shoulder was wounded and it didn't looked that nice. Tony sat up and saw Valentina lying about two meters away from him. She had been faster and seemed not to be hurt.

"Everything alright?" Gibbs asked and looked at the agents. They nodded, except for McGee who was leaned against the car and didn't dare to watch his shoulder. "Everything's gonna alright, Tim."

A few minutes later, ambulance arrived and carried the injured agents to a hospital. The other gathered around to watch the brigade extinguishing the burning fire. **Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"And?" Tony asked when Gibbs came back from the video conference.

"Nothing. And without McGee we can't even hack into the FBI files ourselves," the boss answered and threw his coffee into the bin.

"Well, Valentina can do some hacking…"

"Not much," she intervened directly.

"Can you try?" Gibbs asked with hope.

"I'd need-"

"Take his computer," Gibbs ordered and pointed on McGee's desk. Valentina hurried over and started the Geek's computer. Gibbs went away to buy another cup of coffee and Tony went over to her with his desk chair.

"Thanks, Tony," she muttered annoyed.

"Hey, come on. You could be some competition for McNerd."

A second later she stated: "I'm in."

"Wow, that was fast," Tony muttered. "Now, open the file of Lee Carter."

"I first need to find it."

"What do you think you're doing?" They both looked around. "Agent Fornell!" Tony said suddenly while Valentina was busy closing all windows.

"You hacking into some files?"

"Er…no," Valentina stammered but knew it wasn't quite convincing.

Fornell just raised an eyebrow. "Stay out of that."

"We would – if you told us what it was about."

Fornell sighed but both agents knew that he was persuaded already. He looked around to be sure nobody was listening to them and then said: "Lee Carter, forty-seven, has worked about fifteen years ago for home security until we found that he was a foreign spy. It took us about five years to find out who he's working for: Mossad."

"Mossad?" Tony said astonished.

Fornell nodded. "Since then, we lost track of him. We thought that he had returned to Israel. But now that the microchip with Navy secrets on it, is missing, we suspect that either he has been hired by anybody else or that he's still a Mossad agent."

"So you think Mossad after the newest Naval submarine technology?" Valentina asked obviously not believing that.

"It isn't that odd. In the past few months, our diplomatic relationship with Israel wasn't that well. Especially during the presidential election we're weakest." He was interrupted by his ringing phone. He went away and Tony and Valentina exchanged surprised looks.

Fornell came back. "Good news. Carter was caught when he tried to board a plane to Tel Aviv. I've gotta go."

The agents nodded good-bye and Valentina continued staring at her computer.

"And what now?" Valentina asked and leaned back in McGee's chair.

"It's late. And we have nothing more to do today," Tony whispered in response.

"Your name is Lee Carter, born Akim Barak in Tel Aviv, you're forty-seven and supposedly work for Intelligence service Mossad. Is that correct?" Fornell asked the man in front of him.

He didn't respond.

"You are suspect for two bomb attacks in which federal agents could have died and furthermore for the disappearance of a tiny microchip a US Naval officer had carried. You stole that chip and killed the agent."

The man laughed and answered with a strong Hebrew accent: "I did not build the bombs, I only activated the triggers and placed them. I did not steal the microchip but I helped someone to get it. I did not kill your marine."

"This means, there's another Mossad operative here, right? Who is it?"

He laughed. "I will be dead very soon. Ahuv told us, if one of us is captured, we should eliminate the other one. So, what intention should I have to tell you?"

"We can protect you," Fornell asked nervously.

"Nobody can protect me," the agent simply answered.

Fornell already regretted that he had chosen an interrogation room with windows. But however, bulletproof windows and after another ten minutes they both stood up.

They just wanted to go out when there was a loud sound and a huge quake and Fornell fell on the ground. A moment of silence and he dared to look around. "Carter!" he shouted in disbelief at the dead body.

"Fuck!" He stared outside the broken window glass and then inside again. Agents already came running in. "How did he do that?" one of them asked.

"Must have been a Vasuka. Nothing else is that powerful," another one answered.

But Fornell nodded. "This _was_ Mossad. And they're very keen on eliminating all traces. I want that nobody can leave that country without biggest security check! They wouldn't have done this if the microchip was already outside of our borders."

"You mean, the other agent is still here, with the microchip?" the newest agent asked.

Fornell nodded. "And we won't let him out."

It was late night when Valentina finally rang Tony's door bell. "You took your time," he stated when he let her in.

"I couldn't decide what to wear," she answered and kissed him shortly on the mouth.

They came into the living room. "Candle lights dinner…awwwww, you're so sweet, Tony," she said and hugged him.

After the dinner, they sat down on the couch and cuddled with each other. "So, what now, Tony? Isn't this against one of Gibbs' rules?" she asked when they lay there arm in arm.

"As long as he doesn't know…" he started and kissed her again. He knew it was so fast but she seemed to be so ready. "What happened to your boyfriend on the Defiant?" he suddenly asked.

"He died…"

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I've gotten over this…finally."

* * *

It was around four o'clock in the morning when Valentina's cell phone rang. Both sat up immediately and tried to figure out that they were together lying in his bed. Valentina searched her phone and had a look on it.

"Sorry, I gotta take this," she muttered, searched underpants and bra and closed the door when she left the bedroom. Tony heard her complaining "Have you had a look on your watch?" before he sighed and lay down again. He didn't know why but somehow he was curious who would call Valentina at four in the morning.

Must either be important or someone in another time zone. He didn't want to, but he decided to stand up and walked to the door to listen. It took him some time to spot her voice and then realize that she wasn't talking English. He raised his eyebrows and tried to listen more carefully. It was hard to guess but it sounded somehow Asian and then he remembered Ziva talking.

Valentina was speaking Hebrew! Astonished Tony went back from the door and stumbled down on the bed again. What the hell was this? But then he caught himself. Valentina could easily have friends in West Asia.

She had been on a submarine for some time and could have made friends. This didn't mean anything and it was just a coincidence that she talked the same language where Ziva was from. Tony crawled back into the bed and waited for her to return.

She kissed him and they went to sleep again. But Tony didn't. He lay awake all night and hoped that it was just a stupid coincidence and that Valentina was a nice girl and not some sort of…ridiculous, he decided and closed his eyes.

**Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tony and Valentina drove back to NCIS headquarters the next morning. Gibbs already sat there and drank his coffee but he didn't suspect anything. It was one of his rules that colleagues shouldn't have more than friendship relations and so it stayed a private matter between Tony and Valentina.

At half past eight, just two minutes later, McGee arrived. He looked like having been in front of the computer all night. "I managed to hack into the FBI files tonight," he declared.

"What have you found out?" Valentina asked curiously.

"They arrested and interrogated Lee Carter."

"And?" Gibbs asked interested, trying to do something at his computer but obviously failed.

"He was shot."

"How that?" Tony asked surprised.

"The interrogation room had bullet proof glass but someone used a Vasuka. It cut through it. Fornell wasn't injured but-"

"What have they found out?"

"He was working for Mossad and he had a partner. Someone is still on the run and tries to smuggle the microchip out of the US."

"There's a lot of information on it," Gibbs commented and didn't notice how Tony glanced over at Valentina.

No, this couldn't be, he thought. Valentina was no spy, she was no Mossad agent. They'd never risk smuggling a Mossad agent into NCIS, especially after the daughter of the director died.

McGee nodded. "FBI closed all small airports around here and doubled security check for all others. There're FBI, CIA and homes security agents at all train and bus stations, especially around DC."

"But what if the other agent doesn't want to get out? He feels safe here and hides. Or passes on the microchip?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, but it wasn't planned that Carter died. They should have returned together. The other agent may just wait here, but we'll catch him before he can escape," Gibbs decided and stood up. "I'll call Fornell," he explained and walked away.

The agents all stayed in the office and looked at each other. They went back to their desks and started figuring out what operations were currently done by the other agencies. After ten minutes, Valentina's cell phone rang and she left to the restrooms. Tony stood up curiously.

"Tony!" McGee hissed and followed him to the ladies' restrooms. "What are you doing?"

"I heard her talking to someone on phone in Hebrew last night."

It took McGee some seconds to realize that: "Last night? Where, when?"

"We…"

"No, Tony, no! Gibbs will kill you when he finds out."

They've arrived at the restrooms and carefully opened the door.

"But he won't find out," Tony explained and they remained silent to listen.

And Tony was right, McGee had to admit. It was indeed Hebrew the new agent spoke. "There may be a lot of reasons why!"

"Yeah, I have thought about this as well. But this is an international affair and we shouldn't risk anything…" Tony turned to McGee. "But she's the first colleague I've ever admitted my love to."

McGee shook his head in disbelief. "You're such an…. There is no word for it."

They turned around in surprise when Valentina suddenly left the restrooms. "Have you been spying on me?" she asked astonished.

Both agents did not find any words until McGee stuttered: "Er…no…ah…who was that?"

"Is it important?"

"Yeah…you spoke Hebrew…" Tony managed to answer.

"Is it forbidden?"

"It's unusual under the current circumstances…"

"Oh, just because Mossad is after some secret US information and I have an Israeli friend this means that I'm the spy you're all searching."

They didn't know what to answer to that.

"Do I look as if I'd brutally kill someone?... Tony?" she asked.

Tony hesitated and felt embarrassed for not having trusted her.

"By the way, I know about your…" McGee intervened and earned an angry look from his colleague.

"You don't trust me, Tony. Then tell, why have you slept with me? Why?" she asked.

Tony sighed. "Listen…" He turned around to be sure that Gibbs was nowhere in sight. "I love you, Valentina. But you need to be honest-" McGee sighed for being forced to hear their relation problems.

"You don't trust me, Tony? Listen to me, closely! I am no spy, I'm not a secret Mossad agent, neither am I Israeli and the friend who called me is from Israel but he's an American soldier. I used to know him from the Defiant and we stayed in contact. He is now on another ship that will soon come to Norfolk, so he calls me more often to arrange his shore leave, okay?" she hissed. Her black eyes were shining and somehow scaring Tony. If eyes could kill…he'd be deep fried and hanged already.

Finally, he nodded. "Let's go back to work before Gibbs gets suspicious," McGee then proposed and the agents did as said.

Gibbs came back half an hour later with a new paper cup of coffee in his hands. "What have you got?"

"Nothing," was their common answer and they shook their heads. "Everything is classified and FBI and CIA want us out of this because we caused their trouble," McGee informed.

Tony's phone rang. "Uh, that must be my informant. Not only Ziva had friends in Mossad."

Gibbs nodded and Tony answered the call. "Ya?"

"Hey, you missed me, bro?" his informant directly responded with a thick Israeli accent.

"Er…yeah. What about the question I asked you…?" he said uneasily.

He was concentrating on his computer and didn't see Valentina's facial expression change when she hacked into the phone line to see with whom he was talking. Neither did he notice that she sent a quick e-mail to an Israeli address.

"Ya, man. You want a list of Mossad spies currently on mission in the US, right? Near Washington?"

"Yes…" He was getting impatient.

"Well…there's a very classified one. It took me a lot of favors to gain insight."

"Come to the point."

"Oh man, bro. Work on your patience, guy! Okay, let me see: Her name is Theresa Marghalit. Her father is, as long as my sources are correct, what I think because it took me hell lot of work to get it, Haschem Marghalit, the direct inferior of Mossad director Eli David."

"I've heard of him. What else can you tell me?"

"Well, her mother was British and when she got pregnant she fled to the Kingdom. Theresa grew up there under the name Theresa Palmer. When she was about five, Haschem found them and killed her mother in front of her eyes. Don't ask me how I found out all the detail."

"I'm not asking."

"Relax, Tony. Relax."

Tony didn't want to respond. He had no patience, not in this matter. But he knew that if he responded, it would take even longer.

"However, she was five, having just witnessed how her father killed her mother and he took her back to Israel. He made sure that she got best education, she speaks up to eight languages fluently. She graduated very quickly and it's really difficult to follow because she changed school every three months and with another name every time. By the way, she graduated with sixteen and then studied Law in Tel Aviv. It is supposed that she already had best insight into Mossad since her father had brought her to Israel and in the age of twenty she officially started a career there, including some very successful and impressive operations in the country and on South American, European and East Asian ground. She's a real bitch. Well, her father's Eli David's best friend and she gets real dirty work to do, such as high professional contract killing. Uh, I just read something about poisoning a Chinese minister on a peace conference between China, Russia and USA."

"Get to the point."

"Okay, okay, guy. Well, shall I send you a photo?" he asked

"Ya, would be great," Tony answered, ended the call and waited for the message. He looked up and saw how Valentina looked somehow strange. He wanted to ask her but today was a typical day for being intervened by a cell phone. Gibbs stood up in the same moment, but walked to the elevator to Autopsy. Valentina left toward the women's restrooms again.

Tony and McGee looked at each other.

"Ah, this must be the mail. My informant told me about a spy currently operating here. Perhaps this is our gal."

"Gal?"

"It's a she. The daughter of Eli David's right hand, her name is Theresa Marghalit." Tony opened the mail.

They both stared at it and blinked for at least five times before they looked at each other. Tony jumped up from the chair and walked over to Valentina's computer. A USB stick was inside and the computer was showing the screensaver of stars. He moved the mouse and the desktop appeared. A second later, it jumped all to black again and suddenly Matrix-like green ciphers were running through the screen.

"What the…?" McGee muttered and typed something with the keyboard.

The ciphers disappeared but a big, glooming red skull appeared on the screen. After this, the usual white letters of prompt appeared and McGee tried to find out what happened.

"Fuck!" he cursed.

"What is it?"

"She loaded a virus into the system. I can't believe it. It will erase everything she has done with this computer and perhaps alter some codes as well. What is for sure, is that she has downloaded all secret information from our NCIS server. Tony, she stole top secret information about our NCIS!"

They stared at each other for a while again before they ran toward the ladies' restrooms, both with the same thought. They opened the door but it was empty.

"Shit!" McGee and Tony cursed in chorus.

They ran back to the computers and McGee had a look on the surveillance camera. But all they were getting was snow. "She disabled surveillance," he stated.

"I can see that," Tony complained. How could he have fallen for that girl? She was a cruel and cold-blooded Mossad killer who had been inside NCIS. This would get him into deepest problems that he yet couldn't think about!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"I've got her," Tony suddenly screamed. They sat both in front of their computers and watched the screens. McGee had managed to hack into most traffic surveillance cameras and loaded a facial recognition program online to support their search.

It had only taken them a minute to find out that NCIS phones were all dead and they had immediately informed their current boss who replaced Director Vance until a new director was found.

They also tried to reach Fornell and Gibbs but somehow all their cell phones didn't work. They sent some agents out to find a network so they could call and FBI and CIA was being informed.

"She's at the DC train station. What the hell is she doing there? There're hell lot of agents running around!" Tony screamed and they grabbed their gear.

Out of the building, they jumped into their cars and while Tony was driving, McGee tried to call Fornell, whose agents were those at the station. "They're looking for her," he informed. "But about thirty seconds ago, all surveillance cameras there went down. It was an external hack via Internet."

"Someone's helping her," Tony muttered.

"Of course, she has valuable information Mossad wants immediately and she's the daughter of Eli David's closest friend."

McGee had just put his cell phone into his pocket when it rang again. "What is it?" he asked and realized he had Gibbs on the phone.

"We just received information from our agency in West-Asia. Haschem Marghalit died two weeks ago during an attack by American soldiers who stormed an suspected Al-Qaeda hiding place. He had been there as negotiator between Mossad and Al Qaeda, which resembles a suicide mission. It turned out he was and Haschem EKIA." _(Enemy killed in action)_

"That means Valentina wants revenge for her father," McGee suggested.

"Yes. She is determined to fulfill her task whatever it costs. I found out Eli herself had proposed her for this. She seems to be one of their upcoming best agents and also a replace for…Ziva. Eli seemed to love Valentina like the daughter he had once lost," ibbs explained. McGee noticed he had difficulties as well, not only with the fact that they all still missed Ziva but with the fact that he, too, fell for a dangerous Mossad agent.

"We're nearly there," Tony said when they turned around a corner and saw the train station. He searched a parking place and they jumped out of the car.

Both agents checked their weapons and then ran into the station which was, as capital's station, a very huge and immense building.

They already saw the FBI agents acting unobtrusively, trying not to attract any attention which could cause mass panic and give Valentina/ Theresa a chance to flee.

"Where could she be?" Tony asked when he nearly ran into Agent Fornell.

"No idea. Last time we saw her on the cameras she was down at track 5. But this was about five minutes ago and since then we controlled every exit and entry, every window. She couldn't have escaped yet."

"That's at least one good message," McGee muttered and looked around.

"Try not to attract any attention. As soon as it's out, everybody will act in panic and this will give her a chance to flee," Fornell said and the agents started moving through the crowd.

"You think she ever felt something for you?" McGee asked.

"Not the right moment to ask this," Tony answered concentrating on looking around. "But I don't think so."

"Even someone like her could use some love."

"She's not Ziva, McGee. She can't be turned."

"How do you know? We managed with Ziva as well."

"She's different. Everything in her file was a lie. Everything she ever told me was a lie. Damn it, I really fell for that lying bitch," he cursed and kicked open the men's restrooms door.

"You sure she could be in here?" McGee asked doubting.

"Yes."

Both agents froze at once. The door fell shut behind them. They looked at each other before they finally dared to turn around.

And there she stood. The beautiful little girl. She had a gun in one hand but didn't look like she'd like to use it.

"Valentina!" Tony stammered.

"I think you already know that I'm Theresa," she simply answered.

Tony nodded. "Theresa Marghalit. Haschem Marghalit's daughter, he died two weeks ago. Tell me, was it a coincidence that right after Eli's daughter was killed, he sent one of his agents to replace her?"

"He didn't see Ziva as his daughter anymore. I was closer to this. He loved me."

"Like a daughter or like a sex object?" Tony asked sarcastically. He couldn't believe he had slept with such a cruel, cold-blooded, foreign spy.

"I think both," she whispered and then added: "Would you please put the guns in the sink behind you?"

"In case you can't count…" McGee started but she intervened: "In case you don't want to test your reflexes I would do as I said."

They both sighed in chorus and did so. They didn't doubt that she was faster than both of them together.

"What do you wanna do? You're surrounded by agents," Tony reminded her.

"About a day or so, I knew my mission was in danger. I called Eli and he sent me someone to complete my task," she explained and suddenly the door behind her opened and a man entered. But he wasn't surprised at all to see them.

Without paying attention to the NCIS agents, he turned to Valentina/ Theresa and muttered something McGee indicated as Hebrew. They both had to silently watch how she handed him over a plastic bag with obviously the microchip inside and he left the toilets again.

"Really? That's your brilliant plan?" McGee asked.

"It works, doesn't it?" she smiled. She sighed, hesitated for a moment and then stepped closer to Tony. "I'm sorry I had to do this to you. Especially that short after Ziva had died. But Eli trusts me and I want to be the child he never had."

She then bend forward and kissed Tony again. And he couldn't deny that he loved that.

"God," McGee muttered when she went back again.

"However, I want you to know that I'll complete my task and that soon the USA should watch out. Especially NCIS should be nice to Mossad."

A second later they shrieked down and Tony and McGee both fell on the floor when a loud noise was freezing their bones. "What the hell was that?" Tony screamed.

"I could never hand the microchip over to someone else. It is my task to bring it to Eli," Valentina answered with the softest voice Tony had ever heard. Her true voice. He looked up and saw her turning and leaving the room. She was just a nice lady, for him, not a cruel killer machine.

Tony jumped up and both agents ran outside. Hell had broken out. People were running in panic and shouting and yelling at the bright inferno in the middle of the hall.

Agents were trying to calm everyone down and Tony and McGee needed to come closer to see the man burning and screaming. He was in light flames and already sank down on the floor.

"What was this?" Gibbs asked.

"He had the microchip," Tony answered and McGee stared at him in disbelief. Would he really cover an international spy who had betrayed him? But he didn't protest. He didn't say anything but understood that Tony knew that there was nothing they could do about it.

They had no chance but wait and see if Valentina really managed to arrive at Tel Aviv and bring the microchip with most important data about US Navy submarines.

**Please leave me a review.**


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